Whew - lots of posts. I appreciate hearing everyone’s opinion - on both sides.
The former owner sent a reply to my email giving a bit more to the story. Sounds like she has 3 children, she was in a car accident and in the hospital. She had someone she felt she could trust, keep the dog until “she was back on her feet” Once she got out of the hospital she contacted the woman and she says she wouldn’t tell her where she was at, the boyfriend made her get rid of her and then told her she found her a good home.
She says for a month she felt she lost her for good, but her son started crying for the dog. She says she contacted rescues and shelters and that no one helped her. Said she was in contact with the shelter about a month ago, but they wouldn’t help her at all. Said she will refund my money or the shelter could refund me. She has vet papers that “show her real age” but doesn’t mention what that was. She asked that we return her, etc.
I did google her name, nothing really comes up. I did find her facebook page - know it’s her because the kids’ pictures match, but there are no pics of the dog. Which doesn’t really mean too much - she may have non-public pics.
I know shelters (especially Gov’t ones) can be understaffed and therefore not the most helpful people, but I have a hard time believing she got no help. My experience with them (our local ones) has always been quite good and they seem well staffed - people who actually take their job and cust service seriously.
AC told us the dog was picked up wandering the streets and the location. It is very close to where the former owner lives. So it was within the county she lives in - the dog didn’t travel far away. In fact I go jogging with the dog on the same street all the time. Who knows, maybe someday we’ll cross paths.
I don’t by any means believe the dog was in a terrible or abusive home. But, our dogs are family members and short of an alien abduction of our entire family - there’s no way the dog would have been handed off to someone else. The lady who took over sounds like a total flake who lied about the situation. As I mentioned, the dog looked to have a pretty recent litter and although I don’t have the complete timeline of events, I sort of wonder if she got pregnant and had the litter when the other lady was supposed to be taking care of her.
The dog was in generally good health. Lots of dandruff, and a scraped paw, but not wormy or fleas. Decent weight. She knew sit, shake, etc.
If it had been only a month since we had her I would consider things differently. But with us she has a secure, definite forever home. With the other people I feel it’s a “likely but not sure” forever home. People like to say that their dogs have a forever home but some life event comes along and poof, that goes out the window. I told her I sympathize with her family, but that she is a permanent part of our family now.
I am curious about some things (including what she mentioned about the real age of the dog) but did not ask questions as I don’t really want to continue correspondence with her. I hope she has closure that she has a great home and people (and doggie sisters!) that love her.
My gut feeling has been that this might escalate and I hope that’s not true. I’m trying to be respectful of her feelings but also be firm about things.
RE: the AC contacting me - I think I will call the shelter and speak with them to let them know what transpired. When they first called it seems like “Sure, we can talk - seems harmless” but it could definitely spiral into something crazy. Her comment about the shelter refunding me is totally bogus. They would never do that. Money has nothing to do with it either!
